Kansas cornerback Chevy Graham (36) shows his frustration on the sideline as the Jayhawks are forced to punt during the third quarter on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

In the event Cheick Diallo is cleared to play basketball for Kansas University, the Jayhawks will become fashionable picks for the No. 1 spot in the nation and with good reason.

Someone, somewhere will then connect the dots and claim that the school with the nation’s best basketball program also has the worst football team in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

But is that a fair statement?

Not quite. Not yet anyway.

Worst in the so-called power-five power conferences? Absolutely. But 128 schools play football in the FBS, and New Mexico State is one of them.

In fact, a case could be made that a conference could be formed choosing only from FBS schools that Kansas would be considered the favorite to win.

The ground rules for conference membership: 1. Must be winless or have just one victory. 2. Must have a low enough standing in the Sagarin computer rankings.

Since the fictional conference has 10 members, its name is the Little 12. Its members, listed in order of Sagarin ranking:

134 . Kansas

136 . Florida Atlantic

146 . Texas State

158 . Idaho

160 . Eastern Michigan

163 . Miami (Ohio)

173 . North Texas

174 . Wyoming

177 . Georgia State

178 . New Mexico State

Kansas wouldn’t fare as well in another fictional conference, open only to traditional basketball powerhouses. Since it has eight members, it’s called the Little Six:

29 . North Carolina

31 . Duke

32 . Louisville

61 . Kentucky

64 . Indiana

65 . Syracuse

100 . Connecticut

134 . Kansas

Sagarin lumps all FBS and FCS schools into the same ranking.

The FCS schools ranked ahead of Kansas: 59. North Dakota State; 75. Youngstown State; 78. Illinois State (the school from which KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger came); 85. South Dakota State; 94. Coastal Carolina (not kidding); 96. Jacksonvile State; 98. Northern Iowa; 99. Chattanooga; 102. James Madison; 107. Harvard; 108. Southern Illinois; 112. Eastern Washington; 114. William & Mary (both of them); 115. Sam Houston State (him too); 119. Southern Utah; 120. McNeese State; 123. Montana; 124. Dartmouth (if you’re scoring at home, that makes two Ivy League schools); 128. Western Illinois (the Leathernecks); 132. Montana State; 133. Samford.

Remaining schools on KU’s loaded schedule, in order of Sagarin ranking: 3. Baylor; 5. Oklahoma; 6. TCU; 19. West Virginia; 24. Oklahoma State; 25. Kansas State; 43. Texas Tech; 72. Texas.

The lowest-ranked power-five school, aside from Kansas, is Purdue at 92, 42 spots ahead of KU.

First-year head coach David Beaty has the right attitude to keep heads from hanging, but it’s going to get tougher by the week in a season that will feel like two or three to the players.

It’s worth keeping in mind that the players who remain on a roster so thin coming into the season are the guys who stuck it out, juggled school and football well enough to stay on course toward a degree.